Beeswax votive candles

[Mabee]

Candle tins from amazon: Candle Tin 4oz - 24 Piece Candle... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0875WMWXZ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Using 4candles NT44 wicks, seems to my inexperienced eye to give a good burn and reaches the edges of the tin

I got mine here:
https://tinwaredirect.com/collectio...ss-solid-slip-lid-tins?variant=39696085057620very similar but works out a bit cheaper.

 

[Kaz]

I got mine here:
https://tinwaredirect.com/collectio...ss-solid-slip-lid-tins?variant=39696085057620very similar but works out a bit cheaper.

View attachment 34582

They look stunning

 

[JohnRB]

Those candle tins look really nice - I wish I had persevered with them when I was experimenting. I was worried at how hot my tins got - perhaps I was over-wicking?

My experience with the votive moulds is to do a single pour - but I wait until the wax has cooled to 69C or below before pouring. It then sets quickly with minimal shrinkage. I think the advice on the 4candles guide to do 2 or 3 pours is aimed more at people using soy wax rather than beeswax.

I have also never used silicone spray. If they don't pull out easily, I pop them in the fridge for half an hour - this normally makes them shrink enough to pull out with a pair of pliers. You can also squeeze the moulds to 'crack' the join between the wax and the mould.

Yes, getting the wicks in is a pain - I just jiggle the wick pin from both ends to make the hole bigger. I also roll the wicks between warm fingers so that the profile is evenly round all the way along, then pop them in the fridge so that they firm up before inserting.

This all sounds a faff, but once you get the process sorted it is very easy.

 

[BeeAdmin]

I got mine here:
https://tinwaredirect.com/collectio...ss-solid-slip-lid-tins?variant=39696085057620very similar but works out a bit cheaper.

View attachment 34582

Looks really cool!

 

[SWHives]

I got mine here:
https://tinwaredirect.com/collectio...ss-solid-slip-lid-tins?variant=39696085057620very similar but works out a bit cheaper.

View attachment 34582

Hi, do you insert the wicks before the wax is poured?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hi, do you insert the wicks before the wax is poured?

Yes you have to with tins. I Glue the sustainer on the bottom and prewax the wick

 

[elainemary]

Have made a few candles for Xmas. Pleased to say my second batch of votives were much easier than the first. I made sure the wax was just over 70c and I sprayed the moulds with more silicone spray. I also didn’t over fill and removed the votives when the wax was still slightly soft rather than fully hard so easy to move the pin around and thread through the sustainer / wick. Pins and votives came out the moulds v easily this time. No cracking and the glasses are cheap to buy and make nice presents

Did a trial with 4candles tins, although the wax was not too hot a crack did appear, which I tried to solve by putting in the oven and cooling slowly. More practise needed!

Pleased with my new pine cone mould - will burn these on Xmas day

 

[Erichalfbee]

Wow. What a display. Despite keeping bees for 15 years I’ve never had that much wax. I’m practically out now.

 

[elainemary]

Wow. What a display. Despite keeping bees for 15 years I’ve never had that much wax. I’m practically out now.

It’s all the wax from pressing out heather honey that makes a difference!

 

[Erichalfbee]

It’s all the wax from pressing out heather honey that makes a difference!

Of course!

 

[Girl with the bees]

This is a great thread and has spurred me on to think about making votive candles. I was wondering why you put the wick in after the candle is made? Why can’t you use sustainers as with tea lights? Also, why can’t you make the candle in the little pot/tin? Thanks

 

[Kaz]

Have made a few candles for Xmas. Pleased to say my second batch of votives were much easier than the first. I made sure the wax was just over 70c and I sprayed the moulds with more silicone spray. I also didn’t over fill and removed the votives when the wax was still slightly soft rather than fully hard so easy to move the pin around and thread through the sustainer / wick. Pins and votives came out the moulds v easily this time. No cracking and the glasses are cheap to buy and make nice presents

Did a trial with 4candles tins, although the wax was not too hot a crack did appear, which I tried to solve by putting in the oven and cooling slowly. More practise needed!

Pleased with my new pine cone mould - will burn these on Xmas day

These look great, well done! I'm still struggling with the best way to use the votive moulds and rather disappointingly after all the effort didn't sell a single one at my one and only Christmas fair

My most recent attempts with the tins found a second pour the most successful, after trying the oven method and a pan of hot water method, but my last batch was too small a sample to be definitive as a proven method. I'm out of wax now so that's it for me until next year. It's been great fun experimenting though - and I've managed to hide all the receipts from candle suppliers before they were scrutinised!

 

[BeeAdmin]

Have made a few candles for Xmas. Pleased to say my second batch of votives were much easier than the first. I made sure the wax was just over 70c and I sprayed the moulds with more silicone spray. I also didn’t over fill and removed the votives when the wax was still slightly soft rather than fully hard so easy to move the pin around and thread through the sustainer / wick. Pins and votives came out the moulds v easily this time. No cracking and the glasses are cheap to buy and make nice presents

Did a trial with 4candles tins, although the wax was not too hot a crack did appear, which I tried to solve by putting in the oven and cooling slowly. More practise needed!

Pleased with my new pine cone mould - will burn these on Xmas day

Hey, these are beautiful sets of candles. Not bad for somebody needing more practice. Congrats!

 

[Garry R]

These look great, well done! I'm still struggling with the best way to use the votive moulds and rather disappointingly after all the effort didn't sell a single one at my one and only Christmas fair

My most recent attempts with the tins found a second pour the most successful, after trying the oven method and a pan of hot water method, but my last batch was too small a sample to be definitive as a proven method. I'm out of wax now so that's it for me until next year. It's been great fun experimenting though - and I've managed to hide all the receipts from candle suppliers before they were scrutinised!

It's really weird. I love wax and all its challenges but when it comes to selling them there just is not the interest which is disappointing. People seem to like sickly smelling candles at great expense - all part of Amecicanisation I suppose.

 

[elainemary]

This is a great thread and has spurred me on to think about making votive candles. I was wondering why you put the wick in after the candle is made? Why can’t you use sustainers as with tea lights? Also, why can’t you make the candle in the little pot/tin? Thanks

Hi all good questions that I asked myself when researching votive candles! The idea is to make the candles that you can drop into glasses and make extras. So you can give a set of 3 glasses with votives and 3 extras as a gift that can be added to the glasses after the first set has burnt. You can of course just make them direct into the glasses but the risk is as a larger diameter they might crack and you have to find a way of pinning the sustainers down into the bottom of the glass before pouring

 

[elainemary]

These look great, well done! I'm still struggling with the best way to use the votive moulds and rather disappointingly after all the effort didn't sell a single one at my one and only Christmas fair

My most recent attempts with the tins found a second pour the most successful, after trying the oven method and a pan of hot water method, but my last batch was too small a sample to be definitive as a proven method. I'm out of wax now so that's it for me until next year. It's been great fun experimenting though - and I've managed to hide all the receipts from candle suppliers before they were scrutinised!

I don’t think people appreciated the work involved in refining and making beeswax candles and like the sweet sickly smells that go with the soy type. So I make for my own use and gifts only. Huge difference in my view but I’m bias

 

[Swarm]

I agree, Elaine, Any candles I make are given away as gifts, people seem to like the stink from the candles you find at garden centres, the gorgeous aroma of natural bees wax eludes them. I had to give one neighbour some more little skeps because she couldn't bring herself to light them.
I've a little skep candle for all my neighbours this year to light a candle for Ukraine on Christmas Eve.